


The Depths

by thisisthefamilybusiness



Category: Charlie Countryman (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid, F/M, I can't believe I actually wrote this, I've lost control of my fic, Mermaids, Merman Nigel, Minor Character Death, Princes & Princesses, Shipwrecks, Sirens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 14:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1147219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisthefamilybusiness/pseuds/thisisthefamilybusiness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You expect me to believe there are fucking mermaids swimming around this boat?” Gabi raised a single eyebrow and glanced down at the water just beyond the railing she stood at, murky and placid, glinting with the reflection of the setting sun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Depths

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WomanKings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WomanKings/gifts).



> This is ridiculous and probably OOC, but feel free to blame WomanKings as usual.

“You expect me to believe there are fucking _mermaids_ swimming around this boat?” Gabi raised a single eyebrow and glanced down at the water just beyond the railing she stood at, murky and placid, glinting with the reflecting of the setting sun.

“We’ll only see them if we’re unlucky, though, my lady.” The captain shrugged, like it was nothing unusual.

“ _Why_?”

“Mermaids are nasty. They’re scavengers, like to pillage from sunken ships. They aren’t afraid to help the ‘sunken’ bit along, either.” He shuddered, despite the summer heat. “They’ll pull a man to his death in the depths and rob his boat for whatever suits their fancy.”

Gabi stared curiously across the water again. “Seriously?”

“I wouldn’t even go swimming in these waters, my lady.”

She sighed and folded her arms over her chest, wrinkling the delicate white linen and lace of her gown, almost daring the captain to say something about it, just like with the swearing—but he didn’t, just turned back to the sailor currently behind the wheel.

“Mermaids,” she mumbled to herself. “Fucking _mermaids_.”

* * *

A royal ship was a rare opportunity for them, and this one promised to have exceptionally good cargo—Nigel had been listening to what the sailors had been saying down by the docks, and apparently the princess was being sent back home from school, expected to arrive with presents from all the foreign ports they’d stopped at along the way.

The foreign stuff always went for higher prices—more exotic, Nigel figured—and any sort of human clothing was bound to sell well. Any ship carrying a member of the royal family was bound to have at least half a dozen trunks’ worth of clothing. It was a beautiful wreck waiting to happen.

A storm—a truly wicked monster of a storm—had been brewing for the past few days, and the sea had been still, heavy with the weight of the oncoming tempest. The surface was nearly perfectly flat when Nigel surfaced a few yards away from the royal ship, and he grinned when he saw that all but two members of the crew of the ship were below deck, lazy and contented by the disturbingly peaceful weather of the moment.

He dove back below with a laugh to himself. It was like the sea _wanted_ him to claim this ship.

* * *

The first and most obvious sign that something was wrong was that no one would tell Gabi what was going on, despite that she was standing in two feet of water in the captain’s quarters, and more and more water just continued to flood in up through the floorboards. The captain was screaming and everyone was shouting. The crew was bailing water as fast as they could, but between how the ship only tossed about on the waves and rain just continued to pour down, the ship was taking on more water than they could keep up with.

“Someone tell me what’s going on,” she demanded, as the captain tersely grabbed her elbow and dragged her out on deck.

“Get in the lifeboat,” the captain snapped back.

“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

“Get in the boat and I’ll tell you then!” The captain shoved her towards the dinghy that had been prepared to be lowered.

Before Gabi had a chance to protest, a wave overtook the ship, and the deck lurched beneath their feet as the entire ship flipped on its side. Gabi’s nightgown caught on a stray board from what had been the deck, pulling her below the cold water’s surface with it.

She flailed in panic, but succeeded only in getting the sting of salt water in her eyes and further entangled. Her lungs burned as she gagged on the water, disoriented.

But then someone was pulling her up, freeing her from the tangle of her gown and carrying her in strong arms above the water’s surface, to help her roll herself onto the remains of the lifeboat from the shipwreck.  In the daze of panic and disorientation of darkness, she thought she saw her saviour as he swum away from her: a creature with the top half of a man with shaggy greying hair and a tan, fit build, but the tail of some strange fish, diving back down under the waves and out of her sight.

_A merman._

* * *

He’d fucked up.

But she had looked so panicked, so helpless—unlike the ship’s crew, which had, until the very last second that the ship had gone under, stayed quite calm, accepting of their death. Under the surface, in her white nightgown against the black backdrop of the water, she’d looked terrified, and strangely beautiful, short red hair floating around her and skirt in a tangle around her legs.

It had been so fucking easy to tug her to safety, to feel her warm-blooded heat against his own body, to listen to her heavy, gasping breaths as her weak human lungs gagged on the salt water.

Humans were nothing to Nigel, worth only what their ships could offer him. He had dragged hundreds of them to their deaths in the depths, lured their boats onto rocks or into storms. He didn’t give a fuck one way or another about humans.

Or he wasn’t supposed to, at least.

Fucking shit.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> I pulled that title out of my own head for once.
> 
> Inspiration for Nigel's mer-features comes from [this particular tail and performance by the lovely Mertailor, a professional merman](http://mermaids-and-anchors.tumblr.com/post/59440821654/mertailor-facebook-blogspot-youtube-tumblr), and [this anonymous merman](http://gabiibanescu.tumblr.com/post/73009851394). 
> 
> I marked this as one out of multiple because yes, I have one or two more chapters of this. Merman!Nigel has become my mental happy space.


End file.
